The present invention relates generally to an attachment for a tractor type vehicle and more particularly to a brush rake attachment for skid steer-type loaders for use in combination with a tree shearing attachment.
In order to fully utilize land for many activities, brush and timber that cover such land must be cleared away. Present technology, however, performs unsatisfactorily in clearing land for certain applications. A common ground clearing operation utilizes a bulldozer to uproot trees and the like with its blade by pushing against any obstacle in the bulldozer's path and is referred to as bucking. Such an operation requires large, heavy machinery which is expensive and inefficient. In addition, bulldozers lack a high degree of maneuverability and often cannot be used to selectively clear certain areas while leaving desirable trees standing. Stressing or scarring of the desirable trees often results.
Also, by the nature of bucking, large amounts of dirt and soil are incorporated in the resulting brush pile. Bucking uproots trees by pushing them over, thus excavating the tree root balls as well as tearing up the top soil. The excess dirt and soil in the brush pile is disadvantageous because disposal by burning is incomplete and to prevent soil errosion, it is normally desirable to leave the top soil intact. Bucking is additionally disadvantageous because young, supple trees can bend underneath the blade and snap back as the bulldozer passes over so these trees must be removed by some other method.
Other devices have been used in clearing trees including attachments employed in conjunction with ground clearing systems such as ripping teeth that dig or rip the trees and brush from the soil. Ripping teeth, however, do not overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of bucking in that such an operation creates brush piles that include a substantial amount of soil.
Present technology is additionally insufficient in that many present attachments employ time-consuming and/or complicated connection procedures. Such systems are inefficient where bucking is not possible or desirable and one employs separate attachments to the tractor type vehicle for felling and for raking the timber and brush.
Additionally, present brush clearing attachments generally do not promote a rolling motion on the felled timber which can facilitate the clearing process.
The aforementioned problems are addressed by the brush rake of the present invention.